New NHS Alliance

– Failing to recognise the renewable energy of people and communities is a key issue –

Birmingham, 8 January 2019. New NHS Alliance today announced that it broadly welcomes the NHS Long Term Plan with some significant reservations. A key issue is the Plan’s failure to recognise that harnessing the ‘renewable energy’ of people and communities is perhaps the most sustainable form of prevention there is.

Commenting on this failure, Brian Fisher, Chair, said, “We welcome any new NHS funding and there are worthy and important aspirations in the Plan. However, while the Plan nods occasionally to the real social roots of ill-health, it then ignores them or does little to tackle them.”

“There is a welcome focus on health inequalities, but, sadly, only tired, ineffective approaches rejected by Marmot decades ago. Health and illnesses are social processes and the Plan fails to include harnessing the ‘renewable energy’ of people and communities as detailed in the Governments NHS Five Year Forward View.”

“New NHS Alliance recommends public involvement in planning and evidence-based people and community-centred approaches to prevent illness and create health. This is what this Plan should include – and there is no mention of them”.

Commenting on the solution to the omissions, Merron Simpson, CEO said, “Perhaps the biggest opportunity rests with ICSs and CCGs which have it within their gift to adopt and commission community-led, asset-based approaches across all sectors. New NHS Alliance Alliance is ready to work with local areas to help them find their own ways to tackle health inequalities through Health Creation, engaging directly with disadvantaged people and communities. This includes the development of a Wellness Workforce at the frontline of all the sectors. This will ensure that practitioners in difference parts of the system are equipped with skills in creating health with communities”.

Health Creation is a route to wellness. It comes about when professionals and local people work together as equal partners and focus on what matters to people and the community.

New NHS Alliance is a movement of professionals and local people working as equal partners to address and reduce health inequalities. www.nhsalliance.org

Welcome to your Newsletter. This edition considers some of the significant changes we have been working through as we plan for an exciting future.

Dear Colleagues
What a summer we’ve had! As we pack away our shorts and sunglasses for another nine months, we want to bring you the latest news of the changes taking place at New NHS Alliance (NNHSA). It’s been a busy period of organisation change and now, with those hot sunny days just a dim and distant memory, we are looking towards a step change in our activity.

Our major preoccupation has been to set up a community interest company (CIC), so that our legal form better reflects our refocussed values and more clearly articulates the benefit to the community. This change was unanimously approved at our annual general meeting (AGM) and we are well on our way to operationalising our new CIC.

We have also been focussing on new activities to support delivery our 3-5 year business plan … ‘to penetrate the mainstream of all the sectors’. Having spent the last couple of years building an understanding of ‘Health Creation’ with those who ‘get it’, we now want to put our collective effort into convincing those who aren’t yet persuaded. We have started to build our Wellness Self-Learning Programme to equip professionals with skills in Health Creation and to support rapid spread of learning skills in ‘wellness’. The funds we raise from this programme will go towards building the infrastructure to spread learning and grow the Health Creation movement.

We also held a very productive Active Member meeting in July that coincided with our AGM. Since then, we have had many incredibly generous offers of support from Active Members, who we see as essential to our success.

We are working hard to put on another excellent annual event that will take place on 21 November 2018 in Manchester. We’re co-producing our ‘2018 Partnership Summit’ with a wide-range of partners to make it the best we can. It’s called Health Creation: Wealth Creation – Fighting Health Inequalities using Community Assets. Thanks to the generosity of our partners, we are able to make it a free-to-attend event. We are also delighted to announce that 2018 Excellence in Health Creation Awards open for entries. All of our key activities over the last few months are considered in more detail in this newsletter.

Finally, over the last few months we have welcomed some new faces and we have said goodbye to others. This includes Heather Henry, our Chair for the last two and a half years and national executive member for the last seven years. Heather has, without doubt, been the driving force in our transformation to a Movement for Health Creation and she will be sorely missed. Heather, who will remain a member, has chosen to step down as chair to focus on pursuing her passion in supporting new, health creating models of care for children with asthma. We thank Heather for the tremendous amount that she has done for the Alliance, we wish her well in her new focus.

I am honoured to have been elected as chair, at our AGM, and to help steer NNHSA through its next exciting phase. Heraclitus famously said: “The only thing that is constant is change”. As change agents, we must develop the confidence to embrace change and to take the necessary actions to make positive change happen.

I hope that you enjoy this newsletter, and here is to all our continued Health Creation success!

Please join us at the New NHS Alliance 2018 Partnership Summit and be part of a powerful movement that is tackling the injustice of health inequalities through Health Creation.

Headlined by Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, and supported by top-class speakers, compelling case studies and people with lived-experience, Health Creation: Wealth Creation – fighting health inequalities using community assetswill showcase some of the fantastic work being delivered across the north and explore how the health and care systems can best respond to many of the challenges it faces. It will be a pivotal event in the transformation of health economies across the north.

Other confirmed speakers include:

Martyn Broadest, Director of Regeneration, Connect Housing

Susie Finlayson, Power to Change

Tom Lloyd-Goodwin, Associate Director, CLES

Susie Rogers, Partner Capsticks

Dave Sweeney, Executive Implementation Lead at Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership

Rob Eyers, CEO, Telford After Care Team

Supported by Capsticks, Nesta, Power to Change and a number of leading housing organisations, this free-to-attend event will provide a unique platform for learning through the exchange of ideas, delegate-informed discussion, debate and problem-solving. We expect the learning to continue long after the Summit, through self-organised learning groups started at the event.

Now in its third year, the New NHS Alliance Excellence in Health Creation Awards provides you and/or your organisation with an opportunity to have your health creating work recognised and showcased at a national level.

The winners of the three 2018 Excellence in Health Creation Awards categories will be announced by Mayor of Greater Manchester at the 2018 Partnership Summit. In addition to the award itself, winning entries will be included within our library of Human Experience to further showcase your work with a national audience.

The entry process is very simple. If you are interested entering your work, please download the entry pack. Please also forward the entry pack to any organisation or individual you think might be interested in entering.

This month, NNHSA and two leading housing membership bodies – Place Shapers and the National Federation of ALMOS – called for the widespread adoption of Health Creation by frontline services across the health, care and housing sectors.

This follows the launch of ‘Health Creating Practices – shining a spotlight on housing’, the report from a collaborative project NNHSA undertook with seven of their housing association and ALMO members. The project showcases a range of initiatives including hospital discharge, addressing mental health and community-led programmes such as walking football. It shows what’s possible when people and organisations embrace Health Creation.

We were delighted to find many of the features of health creating practices at play and a healthy appetite for further learning together.

It was on this basis that we called for all frontline service providers to audit their current activities and take further steps to adopt health creating practices as part of their daily practice.

A good starting place for organisations and systems is to undertake our Health Creation Diagnostic Audit based on the five features of health creating practices. We can quickly assess how health creating an organisation’s practices are, providing an external benchmark and quality assurance. Doing this also identifies strengths and weaknesses that provide a baseline to inform further learning.

If you would like to know more about the Wellness Self-Learning Programme, take a look at the video on Getting Our 5-a-day, or contact neil@realitasconsulting.co.uk

NEF presentation at AGMControl and health

At the member meeting immediately following the AGM, Daniel Button and Sarah Arnold from New Economics Foundation (nef) presented findings from two recent practical research projects they undertook:

People’s Health Trust’s Local Conversations and Local People projects.

NHS England’s Health as a Social Movement programme.

There is a large body of evidence that levels of control, at an individual level, effect health. And there is growing interest in collective control and health. While a lack of control is thought to cause chronic stress response and an inability to tackle/prevent health threats.

Their presentation showed the emerging findings and principles, enablers and barriers of social movements for health. They also looked at the role of the NHS in enabling social action for health.

Download a copy of the presentation here.

…other news and views…other news and views…other news and views…

July AGMLooking to the past while preparing for a better future

New NHS Alliance held its 2018 AGM on 11 July 2018 in Birmingham.

The main motion that was agreed was to close New NHS Alliance and Primary Care Alliance and to set up a Community Interest Company (C.I.C.) – The Health Creation Alliance CIC – through which to continue the purposes of the New NHS Alliance. This legal form better reflects our purpose and community benefit and we hope that being regulated by the CIC Regulator will provide greater assurance, particularly to funders.

Our commitment requires us to involve people with lived experience in our activities to influence policy and systems as well as in designing and delivering our learning activities. In so doing, we are aiming to bring benefits to the individuals themselves and to communities more broadly through better policy-making and better designed and run services that are better suited to the needs of communities.

National Pharmacy Association argues the Health Inequalities case More investment to improve outcomes

In advancing the argument for more investment in fighting health Inequalities, Nic O’Neill, New NHS Alliance resident member and Merron Simpson, New NHS Alliance Chief Executive, joined NPA and a number of other leading organisations in sharing this view with the Guardian as part of a NHS 70th anniversary article on ‘How to keep the NHS alive and well’.

A ‘Call-For-Action’ video shot on the day is still available for re-tweeting (#healthequality)

Mental Health Policy Commission: Investing in a Resilient GenerationLooking beyond medical interventions is the key to a prosperous nation

Commission member, Heather Henry, Chair of New NHS Alliance, contributed to this outstanding report led by Prof Paul Burstow of the University of Birmingham.

The Commission examined evidence from people with experience of mental distress, families, practitioners, communities, academics, and policy makers to form ground-breaking recommendations that will support a truly different approach and provide a strategic framework for mental health for the 21st Century.

The Commission calls for whole system remodelling and believes that closing the prevention gap should be made a fifth Grand Challenge by the Government. It says

“The Commission’s case for change is simple: the nation’s future prosperity requires a sustained investment in the nation’s mental health resilience” … “By systematically deploying evidence-informed practices and programmes that maximise resilience and minimise risk factors, it is within our grasp to halve the number of people living with life-long mental health problems in a generation”.

Monday 17 September 2018. Two leading housing bodies – Place Shapers and the National Federation of ALMOS – today called for the widespread adoption of the New NHS Alliance’s Health Creation framework by frontline services across the health, care and housing sectors.
A report published today, Health Creating Practices – shining a spotlight on housing, shows how the approach improves health for tenants and communities.
Health Creation asks professionals to move away from telling people and communities what they need. Instead, professionals focus on providing the conditions for people to gain control, make meaningful contact with others and build confidence which together support health and wellbeing. Health Creation is a route to wellness. It is also a route to a healthier local economy.
The report details the outputs of a partnership project with seven of their housing associations and ALMO members and the New NHS Alliance. The place studies demonstrate how communities working equally with organisations in an area, rather than having things done to them, can improve health outcomes and move the focus to helping people to get and stay well; and highlights the tenant, community, and organisational benefits of adopting health creating practices.
Sinéad Butters, Chair of PlaceShapers, a national network of more than 100 community-based housing associations said, “PlaceShapers take seriously their contribution to improving the health of communities. This collaborative project showcases what is possible when people and organisations embrace Health Creation. We therefore call on all frontline service providers to audit their current activities and adopt health creating practices as part of their daily practice”.
Commenting on the outcomes, Hugh Broadbent, Chair of the National Federation of ALMOs, and a project partner said, “Working in partnership with the health sector to improve the health and well-being of local people is critical to tackling some of the wider issues they face. It is clear that housing organisations are leading the way in terms of the adoption of health creating practices and where we lead, we call on others to follow”.
Commenting on the project, Merron Simpson, Chief Executive, New NHS Alliance, said, “We are delighted to have partnered with PlaceShapers, the National Federation of ALMOs and their members in delivering this ground-breaking project. This is another step in our ambition to develop a ‘wellness workforce’ at the frontline. Embedding health creating practices as standard practice is something all the sectors need to do if we are to make lasting improvements in population health and in people’s and communities’ lives”.
Health Creation requires ‘asset-based’ skills characterised by the five features of health creating practices: listening and responding, truth-telling, strengths-focus, self-organising and power-shifting. When these five features are working, it provides the conditions for people to gain Control, make meaningful Contact with others and build Confidence. People need enough of the 3Cs of Health Creation to be well.-ends-EDITORS NOTESNational Federation of ALMOS
The National Federation of ALMOs (NFA) is the trade body that represents council housing ALMOs across England.
The NFA represents all 33 ALMOs which manage just under 450,000 council homes across 36 Local Authorities.
The NFA was established in 2003 to represent the interests of ALMOs at the national level, lobbying and negotiating with central government on their behalf. ALMOs themselves were first established as not-for-profit companies in 2002 to manage council housing on behalf of their local authority and to help deliver the Government’s Decent Homes Programme, aimed at improving housing conditions in council housing.
For more information on National Federation of ALMOS, please visit http://www.almos.org.uk/New NHS Alliance

– New legal form will better reflect values and more clearly articulate benefit to community –

New NHS Alliance (NNHSA) today announced its intention to become a community interest company (CIC), enabling it to better reflect its values and more clearly articulate benefit to communities.
Commenting on the change, Merron Simpson, Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are a movement of professionals and local people working in equal partnership to reverse the worsening health inequalities. We achieve this by making wellness a core part of health and care systems. Adopting the CIC legal form reflects our commitment to providing a platform for some of the most disadvantaged people to have a voice within the system and to influence policy-makers, frontline practitioners and our own organisations’ activities”.
The new legal structure was unanimously approved at the organisation’s AGM held on 11 July 2018 in Birmingham.
At the AGM, NNHSA also announced that Queen’s Nurse Heather Henry, NNHSA Chair for the last two and a half years, would be standing down. Brian Fisher, the current vice-Chair, was voted in as interim-Chair.
New NHS Alliance is in discussion with a preferred candidate who may take on the role of Chair in 2019. An announcement will be made later this year.
Commenting on her decision to stand down as Chair, Heather Henry said: “New NHS Alliance has a great history of positive and innovative disruption. I have been very proud to be a part of this. However, all my life I have battled asthma and I have always wanted to dedicate my time to helping children with asthma. I feel that now is the right time to pursue this.”
“I will continue as a member of NNHSA’s social movement, Active Alliance, and I therefore look forward to continuing my support for NNHSA as it becomes a stronger and even more successful organisation” she added.
Commenting on Heather’s departure, Brian Fisher, who received an MBE in 2007 for services to his own community in Lewisham, said: “Heather has offered the NNHSA so much over the last two and a half years as we have reinvented the organisation, and even before that as a member of the National Executive. For this we are all extremely grateful. We wish her all the best in her new endeavours and look forward to working with her in the future”.

Editor’s notesHealth Creation
Health Creation is a route to wellness. It comes about when local people and professionals work together as equal partners and focus on what matters to people and their communities.
It requires ‘asset-based’ skills characterised by the five features of health creating practices: listening and responding, truth-telling, strengths-focus, self-organising, power-shifting. When these five features are working, it provides the conditions for people to gain Control, make meaningful Contact with others and build Confidence. People need enough of the 3 Cs of Health Creation to be well.New NHS Alliance
New NHS Alliance is a movement of people and organisations who are committed to building a sustainable, community-based health service. We have a particular focus on reducing health inequalities and on making the practice of Health Creation a core part of the UK health system.
For more information of NNHSA and our work visit www.nhsalliance.org

Welcome to your New NHS Alliance February/March 2018 Newsletter. This month we are asking for your support in building our Library of Human Examples and Evaluated Case Studies.NNHSA Feb March 2018 Newsletter

Welcome to your New NHS Alliance December 2017 Newsletter. This month we reflect on the success of our recent Action Summit and start to think about the new year.NHS Alliance Newsletter – December 2017